Adjustable footwear having interchangeable panels

Abstract

The footwear includes a base having a toe portion, a heel portion opposing the toe portion, a base left and right side, and a bottom surface to engage the ground when worn by a user. The footwear additionally includes a base top surface opposing the base bottom surface, a toe box permanently coupled to the toe portion of the base at the top surface, and a counter permanently coupled to the heel portion of the base at the top surface. The footwear further includes a left and right support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base between the toe box and the counter on each side of the base, and a detachable left and right panel configured to detachably connect to the respective left and right support structure.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Footwear comprising:
 a base comprising:
 a toe portion; 
 a heel portion opposing the toe portion; 
 a base left side; 
 a base right side opposing the left side; 
 a base bottom surface configured to engage the ground when worn by a user; 
 a base top surface opposing the base bottom surface; 
 a toe box permanently coupled to the toe portion of the base at the top surface; 
 a counter permanently coupled to the heel portion of the base at the top surface; 
 a left support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base between the toe box and the counter at the base left side; 
 a right support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base between the toe box and the counter at the base right side; 
 a detachable left panel configured to detachably connect to the left support structure; and 
   a detachable right panel configured to detachably connect to the right support structure.   
     
     
         2 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the detachable left panel comprises one or more left panel connectors, and the left structure comprises one or more complementary left panel connectors configured to removably couple to the one or more left panel connectors of the detachable left panel. 
     
     
         3 . The footwear of  claim 2 , wherein the detachable right panel comprises one or more right panel connectors, and the left structure comprises one or more complementary right panel connectors configured to removably couple to the one or more right panel connectors of the detachable right panel. 
     
     
         4 . The footwear of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more left panel connectors, one or more complementary left panel connectors, one or right panel connectors, and one or more complementary right panel connectors are selected from a group consisting of snap fasteners, hook and eye connectors, and hook and loop connectors. 
     
     
         5 . The footwear of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more left panel connectors of the detachable left panel includes a left slider to insert into a left channel, wherein the channel is permanently coupled to the base left side. 
     
     
         6 . The footwear of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more right panel connectors of the detachable right panel includes a right slider to insert into a right channel, wherein the right channel is permanently coupled to the base right side. 
     
     
         7 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the right support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base is integrally formed with the counter and the toe box. 
     
     
         8 . The footwear of  claim 5 , wherein the right support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base is integrally formed with one or more of the counter and the toe box. 
     
     
         9 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the left support structure permanently coupled to the top surface of the base is integrally formed with the counter and the toe box. 
     
     
         10 . The footwear of  claim 9 , wherein the left support structure coupled to the top surface of the base is integrally formed with one or more of the counter and the toe box. 
     
     
         11 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the detachable left panel and the detachable right panel include a plurality of eyelets configured to receive shoe laces there through. 
     
     
         12 . The footwear of  claim 11 , wherein the shoe laces are woven through the plurality of eyelets to connect the detachable left panel and the detachable right panel together. 
     
     
         13 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the left support structure and the right support structure includes female connectors embedded within the respective support structure. 
     
     
         14 . The footwear of  claim 13 , wherein the detachable left panel and the detachable right panel includes male connectors embedded within the structure to detachably connect to the left and right support structure. 
     
     
         15 . The footwear of  claim 13 , wherein the left support structure includes female connectors embedded within the structure and the right support structure includes male connectors embedded within the structure. 
     
     
         16 . The footwear of  claim 15 , wherein the detachable left panel includes male connectors embedded within the left support structure, the detachable right panel includes female connectors embedded within the right support structure, and both the left and right detachable panels are configured to detachably connect to the left and right support structure, respectively. 
     
     
         17 . The footwear of  claim 16 , wherein the detachable left panel and the detachable right panel are configured to connect to each other. 
     
     
         18 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the toe box, heel portion, counter, and the detachable left and right panels are of the same material on the outer surface thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the toe box, heel portion, counter, and the detachable left and right panels are made from different materials on the outer surface thereof. 
     
     
         20 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the toe box, heel portion, counter, and the detachable left and right panels have the same pattern on the outer surface thereof. 
     
     
         21 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein toe box, heel portion, counter, and the detachable left and right panels have different patterns on the outer surface thereof. 
     
     
         22 . The footwear of  claim 1 , wherein the counter comprises longitudinal slots from a substantially top portion of the counter to a substantially bottom portion of the counter wherein the slots are situated on both a left and right side of the counter. 
     
     
         23 . The footwear of  claim 22 , wherein the detachable left panel is configured to slide a portion of the detachable left panel into the left longitudinal slot, and the detachable right panel is configured to slide a portion of the detachable right panel into the right longitudinal slot. 
     
     
         24 . A detachable footwear apparatus, comprising:
 a first panel configured to cover a left support structure of a user's footwear having one or more connection mechanisms;   a second panel configured to cover a right support structure of the user's footwear having one or more connection mechanisms; and   a shoelace to couple the first and second panel together.   
     
     
         25 . A method, comprising:
 attaching a first detachable panel to a corresponding first side of a shoe using one or more of a first set of connection mechanisms embedded within the first side of the detachable panel and a first set of receiving connection mechanisms embedded within the first side of the shoe; and   attaching a second detachable panel to a corresponding second side of the shoe distinct from the first side of the shoe using one or more of a second set of connection mechanisms embedded within the second detachable panel and a second set of receiving connection mechanisms embedded within the second side of the shoe.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the first detachable panel is a right detachable panel, and the second detachable panel is a left detachable panel. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising, weaving a shoe lace through eyelet holes of the first and second detachable panel to tie the first and second detachable panels together. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the first set of connection mechanism and the second set of connection mechanisms are selected from a group consisting of snap fasteners, hook and eye connectors, and hook and loop connectors. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising,
 detaching the first detachable panel from the corresponding first side of the shoe; and   detaching the second detachable panel from the corresponding second side of the shoe.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising,
 detaching the second detachable panel from the corresponding second side of the shoe; and   detaching the first detachable panel from the corresponding first side of the shoe.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising,
 untying the first and second detachable panels from each other;   detaching the first detachable panel from the corresponding first side of the shoe; and   detaching the second detachable panel from the corresponding second side of the shoe.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising,
 untying the first and second detachable panels from each other;   detaching the second detachable panel from the corresponding second side of the shoe; and   detaching the first detachable panel from the corresponding first side of the shoe.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein attaching the first detachable panel to a corresponding first side of the shoe includes sliding a slider of the first detachable panel into a channel of the first side of the shoe. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein attaching the second detachable panel to a corresponding second side of the shoe includes sliding a slider of the second detachable panel into a channel of the second side of the shoe. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 29  wherein detaching the first detachable panel from the first side of the shoe comprises sliding the slider of the first detachable panel out of the channel of the first side of the shoe, and detaching the second detachable panel from the second side of the shoe comprises sliding the slider of the second detachable panel out of the channel of the second side of the shoe.